Keeping your custom templates update safe

By default, ASA 1 looks for the HTML template files in its subdirectories /tpl/ and /tpl/built-in/.

You should never change the file in built-in as those are the templates shipped with ASA. They will be overwritten with new updates. You should put your custom templates one level higher in the /tpl/ directory. On update, ASA 1 tries to copy all files in the /tpl/ directory to a temporary destination and move them back after the update process is completed. However, this might not work on every server.

The best place to keep your custom template file is a subdirectory in your theme (or child theme) directory called “asa”. This folder is the first ASA checks for custom templates and it is absolutely update safe.

Remember: No matter where you keep your custom templates, it is always a good choice to have a backup.

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About the Author

Timo

I started working on Amazon Simple Admin back in 2007 because I could not find an Amazon plugin for Wordpress that met my requirements. After many years of experience and hard work, the complete new ASA 2 Pro was released in early 2016.
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Comments 7

Hello, I just updated the plugin yesterday. Thanks to reading this blogpost before I could safe my custom templates and everything works fine again! Thank you for your great work and for this phantastic plugin! Best wishes, Matthias

Hi Timo,Just downloaded your plugin. Congratulations on a very professional piece of work.As I mentioned I am just starting to use the plugin and read the information on thr website etc.I have a question regarding compliance with the Amazon API requirements about having to display a timeif the price is not updated each hour.If I set the cache time to 3600 (or less) will a new api call be made according to that setting?

Affiliate Books (built with ASA2)

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on https://www.amazon.com/ at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

I use ASA2 Pro on several websites with different Wordpress themes. I really like the Repo function and the possibilities to adapt the design for each website individually. Also the message function, which tells me on a weekly basis, which products I use are no longer available is really helpful and helps to improve the user experience.

The support is top-notch and very efficient. We could sort out all of my questions in the beginning and I'm more than happy with my decision to use ASA2 Pro!

We've been using ASA2 very extensively on a daily basis for several months now and have been excited about the opportunities it offers Amazon Affiliates from day one.

In addition to the fact that the TestSuite provides an easy way to get an idea of the readable product features, the reliability of the plugin and the up-to-dateness of the data are particularly impressive.

ASA2 helps us to provide our readers with the most relevant and up-to-date product information on an automated basis.

The new features added over the last months also increase the usability of the tool and make the plugin, despite the extremely powerful and versatile functions, easy in daily use.

We have been using the Amazon Simple Admin plugin for years now with lots of our quality affiliation projects. ASA 2 improves the product in every respect.

The easy and seamless integration of Amazon products, which is possible using the extremely flexible templating mechanism, is a real benefit for us, along with the sophisticated caching and great support. Thanks Timo for all the great work so far!

Christoph Weil

We started using ASA2 on one of our websites to test the plugin and to see if we gain benefits in using the plugin vs. developing it ourselves. Everyone in our team admits that it was the best decision to go for ASA2. Also in comparison to other Amazon Associate Plugins on the market ASA2 delivers the best value for an acceptable amount of money.

No matter if you want to customise ASA2 templates or generate them yourself. The plugin is easy to understand and works amazing. Furthermore I really like the support of the ASA2 - if you write them you nearly instantly get an answer to your question.

We now plan to use ASA2 on further pages. We definitely found what we were looking for a long time. Thanks a lot!

Maria Lengemann

Our agency uses ASA 2 on more than 20 websites. The installation is fast, the administration is uncomplicated, and the design integrates easily with our themes.

Support from ASA 2 has been available every time - which one does not often see anymore today!

For website administrators in general, and especially for administrators of niche sites, we believe that ASA 2 saves a lot of time. The ranking stars promise an additional level of trust.

David Morawietz

We are now using ASA2 on 5 websites, including for example luxusuhren-test.de. Here we are using ASA2 to blend in Amazon products and to make automatic regular updates.

The possibilities of display form with ASA2 are nearly unlimited: with a little HTML and CSS know-how, one can design one's own templates, and with numerous placeholders, products can be individually offered. The loading times for the user are minimized by server-side caching.

A big plus is the support. Our inquiries are processed within a few hours and new feedback has been openly acknowledged.

Christian Pursch

ASA 2 allows for a simple and fast integration of Amazon products. The creation of custom product templates and an overview of integrated products and their availability are just a few of the features that simplify work as an affiliate.

The prior plugin had already convinced me. I can warmly recommend ASA 2 to every affiliate.

Matthias Lehr

Through the use of ASA 2, I was able to reduce the loading time of my website by a third. That led to better rankings!

The switch to ASA 2 was simple and was completed with the turn of a hand, thanks in part to a template conversion function and a great set of instructions. For me, the highlight is the ASA 2 product repo, that pulls the product data into my WordPress. I intend to use ASA 2 in all of my other projects!

ASA 2 is my clear Amazon Affiliate Plugin favorite! It is unbelievable how many features have been added! Many thanks to Timo for the great work in ongoing development!

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